Attention all shipping : a journey round the shipping forecast

386 Pages·2007·25.828 MB·English

by  Connelly, Charlie, Connelly, Charlie

A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
Charlie Connelly
A]o urney Round the Shipping Forecast
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'One of those simple yet brilliant ideas'
DaiJy Mail
Charlie Connelly is a bestselling travel writer, award
winning broadcaster and the author of ten books, including
Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein~ Quest for the World Cup and In
Search for Elvis. Charlie was a presenter on the Holiday
programme and co-hosted Radio 4's Traveller~ Tree.A former
rock 'n' roll tour manager, mortuary assistant and, somehow,
marketing manager for the Complete Works of Lenin, Charlie is
the official ambassador to England for a breakaway
Lithuanian republic, has been falsely accused of intending to
invade Rockall and has duetted live on Uzbek national
television with the country's biggest pop star.All by accident.
He lives in Ireland with a large collection of ukuleles.
Also by Charlie Connelly
Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein's Quest
for the World Cup
In Search ofElvis:AJourney to Find
the Man Beneath the Jumpsuit
And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years
of British and Irish History
Our Man in Hibernia: Ireland, the
Irish and Me
Bring Me Sunshine: A Windswept, Rain-Soaked,
Sun-kissed, Snow-Capped Guide
to Our Weather
Attention
All Shipping
A Journey Round the
Shipping Forecast
Charlie Connelly
ABACUS
First published in Great Britain by Little, Brown in 2004
This edition published by Abacus in 2005
27 29 30 28 26
Copyright @ Charlie Connelly 2004
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without
the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated
in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
and without a similar condition including this condition being
imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-349-11603-7
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
Papers used by Abacus are from well-managed forests
and other responsible sources.
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Abacus
An imprint of
Little, Brown Book Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
www.hachette.co.uk
www.littlebrown.co.uk
For Aunt]oan
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Contents
Map viii
Acknowledgements ix
Sea, Soup and Silvertown 1
A User's Guide to the Shipping Forecast 19
Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire 35
Forties, Cromarty, Forth 54
Tyne, Dogger, Fisher 75
German Bight, Humber, Thames 105
Dover, Wight, Portland 146
Plymouth, Biscay, FitzRoy 183
Sole, Lundy, Fastnet 215
Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall 261
Malin, Hebrides, Bailey 297
Fair Isle, Faeroes, South-east Iceland 318
Trafalgar 366
Further reading 371

~ckl!owledgements
I sought the advice and opinions of many wise people in the
preparation and execution of this book, but still went ahead and
wrote it anyway. Sincere thanks to Alan Samson for his encour
agement and faith from the book's very inception, to Richard
Beswick and particularly Sarah Shrubb for all their advice and
input, and to Lizzy Kremer for being the world's greatest agent.
Special thanks also to Hilary Hale.
Big thanks are due to Andy Yeatman and Martin Rowley at
the Met Office, and Jane Watson, David Anderson and Nikki
Richardson at BBC Radio 4.
Daphne Caine at the Isle ofM an government's Department of
Tourism (www.gov.im/tourism/) was helpful way beyond the
call of duty, while I am also particularly indebted to Lisa Morgan
at Braathens (www.braathens.no) and Bill Tinto at Scotia Travel
(www.scotiatravel.com) for their assistance.
Thanking everyone who helped to make my job easier would
take up a whole extra volume, but Wenche Ringstrand, Jo
Heuston, Julie Robson and Clive Ramage, Brian Rees, Donald
and Eileen Cowey, Mike With, David and Nessie Taylor, Matt
Wright, Campbell Scott, Lew and Prince Michael of Sealand,
Tim Bennett, the Broadstairs Babes, Sam Lacey, Mum and Dad,